Barnyard

Day 108 - 4/18/08 - Movie #106

BEFORE: Still not ready to knock off those last few Westerns - but I do have a bunch of farm-related animated films on the list...

THE PLOT: When the farmer's away, all the animals play ... and sing, and dance. Eventually, though, someone has to step in and run things, a responsibility that ends up going to Otis, a carefree cow.

AFTER: I was prepared to hate this movie, but it surprised me. I'm not in favor of seeing udders on male cows (still waiting for an explanation on this...) but the story was solid, much better than "Home on the Range". Kevin James and Sam Elliott did some great voice-work, but what's the point of casting Courtney Cox and Andie MacDowell in an animated film, if there's nothing distinctive about their voices? The IMDB helped me identify them, along with Danny Glover as the mule and David Koechner, who was VERY well cast as the coyote villain.

I think my favorite part was when Sam Elliott's cow sang the Tom Petty song "I Won't Back Down", in the style of Johnny Cash (who covered the song on one of his last albums), while watching for coyotes. Again, I swear I'm not making this up.

RATING: 7 out of 10 baby chicks